The OptimalWork Podcast

Explore the challenges of constant email communication, negative impacts of checking email, pitfalls of email communication, the impact of email on setting priorities and achieving goals, and the importance of crafting good emails through sincerity, humility, and generosity.

#52: You might think that love and work have nothing to do with one another. In fact, work has a lot to learn from love, and love from work. In this episode, we explore the similarities between good work and love; how love can provide light and purpose to work; and how to “work” love to prevent it from growing cold.

#51: As you’re trying to develop new and better habits, there are some common obstacles you may run into — they might lead you to give up just when you’re on the cusp of great progress. In this episode, we discuss the most common reason people give up on new habits, and how to overcome it.

Explore strategies to alleviate challenges in decision-making, such as reframing and minimizing decision fatigue. Learn about the systematic process of making decisions without regret, considering both short and long-term benefits. Embrace short-term pain for long-term gain and make decisions based on high ideals and growth.

#49: You may think that anxiety is an inherent trait, something that cannot be changed, only managed. In fact, it’s a state of training — of a small region of your brain called the amygdala — and there are definite steps you can take, not just to overcome it, but actually to transform it into your best performance.

#48: What one practice can increase your energy and mental clarity, stop you from snoring, fix bad breath, and much much more? Transforming how you breathe has many surprising benefits. We discuss the best way to breathe, how to make the change, as well as some difficulties you might encounter along the way.

#47: You may think that the challenges in your life are there to stay, and all you can do is manage them or cope. When the challenges get bigger, you may feel overwhelmed by them. This episode covers the essence of OptimalWork, which is to take the challenging situation you are facing, and flip it to make the challenge happen within you. Instead of being challenged, you are then challenging yourself — and you’ll immediately experience new energy. The challenge you face is giving you a workout for your ideals. There are no limits to the growth you can realize by actively challenging yourself according to your highest ideals.

#46: Many people dream of being “confident” someday. When that day comes, they would have total certainty that they could attain any outcome they seek, without any anxiety at all. While it’s understandable that people want to work without uncertainty, this episode shows how “confidence” could actually mean that you are living on a plateau. Far better to aim instead for growth and your best performance and let confidence (or lack thereof) become simply irrelevant.

#45: You may think that your intelligence is fixed for your whole life. You may even think that this level is determined by an IQ test you took in the past. Happily, neither is true. There are definite practices you can start that will improve your ability to think — they will raise your IQ.

#44: When it comes to planning your day, there are two extremes: having no schedule at all, or having a rigid and constraining schedule. It is common to fall into one of these extremes, or perhaps go back-and-forth between them. Yet the most sustainable way of scheduling, the one that yields the tranquility of order, involves a personalized balance of non-negotiables and flexible work times. In this episode, Dr. Kevin Majeres and Sharif discuss how to get your schedule to work for you.